4. 1.3. Internal Rules and Procedures

1.3. Internal Rules and Procedures 

As well as the external rules that are provided on a Federal and State level, there are rules that are put in place managing health and safety on an organisational level. These rules, policies, and procedures are important for all staff to be aware of. We will examine these rules and procedures in this section.

The requirements may include the following, however there are many industry-related specific situations not included here:

  • Acquisition, use, storage, and disposal of hazardous chemicals
  • Alcohol and other drug intoxication
  • Consultation arrangements for workers in work area
  • Emergency and evacuation procedures
  • Family-friendly environment
  • First aid provision and medical treatment
  • Hazard reporting procedures
  • Incident investigation
  • Life–work balance strategies
  • Maintenance and use of plant and equipment
  • Procedures for hazard identification
  • Procedures for risk assessment, and selection and implementation of risk controls
  • Purchasing policy and procedures
  • Requirements of applicable Commonwealth and State or Territory WHS Acts, regulations, and Codes of Practice
  • Safe operating procedures and instructions
  • Site access and egress
  • Transport and storage of dangerous goods
  • Use and care of personal protective equipment
  • WHS arrangements for on-site contractors and subcontractors, visitors and members of the public
  • WHS audits and inspections

Policy and Procedure

In order to develop a health and safety plan for any organisation – it is crucial that you begin with developing a policy that encompasses everything that you wish to achieve. You will find that the sites mentioned previously can be of much assistance in the process of developing an appropriate policy. They have information available that you can use to provide you with the guidelines you need to develop a policy that is in line with the responsibilities and obligations that you, as an employer or manager, have in protecting your staff.

Briefly put, a policy can be defined as a statement on an issue that affects an organisation. This statement is used to define exactly what a particular organisation hopes to achieve in dealing with a given subject. In the case of WHS policy – the policies will define the organisation’s intentions with regard to the issue of WHS and how they plan to deal with it. Essentially, the WHS policy of an organisation should define:

  • What standard is to be achieved
  • What objectives the organisation hopes to achieve
  • A specific timeframe for the achievement of the objectives
  • What plans the organisation has in place to review the policy
  • Commitment by management to the policy (we will address this shortly)
  • How the policy will be implemented
  • What is expected of staff.

 
Commitment By Management

It is vital to the success of any policy that senior management commit to the plan. That is they must understand the principles that underlie the need for the plan and they fully commit to its implementation within the organisation. They must be willing to enforce the policy if it is broken and work to ensure the effectiveness of the plan – reviewing it continually and making improvements where deficiencies are noted.


Consultation

A strong principle of WHS legislation in Australia is consultation – that is wherever an WHS issue is concerned, a supervisor should work with the team to find solutions using each team member’s detailed knowledge of the areas within which they are working. Regular consultation allows you to keep your staff members informed of the issues, as well as get detailed information from those who work in the areas on a day-to-day basis. Your staff members are in the best position to give advice as they are on the front line – operating in the area and thus they know what risks there are, what hazards are being faced, and what could be done to eliminate the hazards. You should also note that if you work with your team on the development of a health and safety plan, your team members are more likely to be cooperative since they were involved in decision-making from the start.

Consultation will also provide further information – this can be used by the organisation or the employee. Information may include:

  • Examining Commonwealth and State or Territory WHS Acts, regulations, and Codes of Practice
  • Checking equipment before and during work
  • Consulting work team members through daily informal worker consultation and regular formal meetings
  • Housekeeping
  • Reviewing health and safety records, including hazard reports, hazardous substances and dangerous goods registers, and injury records
  • WHS audits and review of audit reports
  • Workplace inspections in area of responsibility

There are a number of procedures that may be used for consultation. They vary industry-by-industry and according to the specific group you intend to receive the information. The procedures could include:

  • Attendance of health and safety representatives at management and WHS planning meetings
  • Early response to worker suggestions, requests, reports, and concerns put forward to management
  • Election of health and safety representatives according to legislative requirements
  • Formal and informal meetings
  • Health and safety committees
  • Individual performance management processes
  • Other committees, for example, planning and purchasing
  • Requirements as specified in Commonwealth and State or Territory WHS Acts, regulations, and Codes of Practice


Health and Safety Committees and Representatives

One useful way of consulting with your staff (and in fact, ways that the WHS Acts state as being required) are the use of WHS committees and WHS representatives. You will need to examine the Act for your State or Territory to decide whether or not your organisation is required to establish a committee – however even if it is not required, they can be a useful way of providing a means of consultation between management and employees. There is also an important role in representatives and committees with regard to communication – having committees or representatives allows you to get health and safety information out to the staff. Representatives sitting on a committee will receive information regarding hazards and policies, and they can go back to their work areas and provide this information to them.

 

Communicating Identified Hazards

Whenever a hazard is identified in the workplace, you need to do something that will let other staff members know about the hazard. If you do not – you will be placing your staff in danger. We will examine the process of identifying and dealing with hazards in more detail later. However it must be noted that as an employer, you must make the workplace as safe as you possibly can which means ensuring that it is free of risks to your employees’ safety or health. In order to accomplish this, you need to first identify which hazards are present in your workplace, then establish ways of controlling them. There are a range of ways which can be used to control a hazard. Crucially, you must not stop here. Once you have identified the hazard, you must then communicate the hazard and any control methods that you have in place to your staff. You may communicate this using signs, passing information through representatives, updating procedure manuals, or training.

 

It is important that all staff are aware of what hazards exist in the workplace.

 

Training

Once again, we will be dealing with training in much more detail later, however at this stage, it is important to consider how training can be used as a communication method in WHS. As we stated earlier, you and your staff have certain responsibilities and obligations with regard to WHS in the workplace. Training is one method that you can use to communicate this information to your staff. You can use it to provide information on obligations, policies, or even to improve knowledge with regard to hazards and improving overall safety in the workplace.